


We've got time, but not forever.

by SongMina



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: (The ending is undecided), Blood, Fluff and Angst, Heavy Angst, I will try my best to make the ending at least hopeful, M/M, Money issues but money is dead people, The possibility for character death, Why am I hurting myself levels of Angst, graphic illness
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-20
Updated: 2017-09-06
Packaged: 2018-12-04 06:36:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11549547
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SongMina/pseuds/SongMina
Summary: Genji's a demon who becomes deadly ill after falling for a mortal named Jesse. The only way to cure him: is to kill the mortal.(based on sarcasticasides' comics! I'll link them in notes.)





	1. The night that sparked the flame

**Author's Note:**

> Like I said, this is based on Sarcasticaside's comics, which you can find [here](http://sarcasticasides.tumblr.com/tagged/oni-au) !  
> Technically the comics are spoilers now, so proceed as you please.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't think I've rewritten a chapter this many times before. It was really difficult to get right, but I think I did!  
> I am actually quite proud of this, it might one of my favourite things I've ever written. It's not a long list but it's still an achievement in my opinion. ; v ;
> 
> Hope you guys enjoy it too!

There was a small little bar tucked away in a back ally. Which was surprisingly popular; mostly because the owner couldn’t afford the tech that had become an inescapable part of Hanamura’s other businesses. It was a safe haven for those who just wanted to get away and not be suggested drinks based on what their social media said about them.

One of the bar’s most known faces was Jesse McCree; a bartender. He had gotten the job only about a month or two ago, yet had become one of the most liked part of the bar for some regulars. He was charming, funny, and seemed to always know what to say.

He didn’t like boasting about it though, preferring to just state that “I’m just doing my job.” with a smile that could melt the heart of anyone.

“Guess I’m doing mine badly then.” His co-worker mumbled, as he walked to the backroom to clock out.

Jesse sighed, but was used to the other’s bitterness. The guy was also talented, but he tended to get the attention of drunken old men. It was hard to blame him for being so irritated.

The night continued as usual, customers coming, drinking and going, some with friends, some alone. There was a lack of a certain lonely woman, who tended to come over on Friday and Thursday.

Before he could ponder the fact too much, another regular walked in; a man who tended to hijack Jesse’s train of thought and take the front seat, not that he minded it in the slightest.

Genji grabbed the bar stool, and sat right in front of Jesse. “What’s up?”

“The usual.” Jesse shrugs with a tiny grin. “Thinkin’ where Nakamura is.”

“Wait- She isn’t here?” Genji asked, seemingly shocked.

“Nope.” Jesse confirmed. “Do you know what could’ve happened? You left with her last night.”

“No…” Genji looked torn. “She got a call from her sister and had to go back home before anything happened. I offered to walk her home since it was late, but she said that she’ll be okay.”

“I sure hope so.” Jesse looked at the worry in Genji’s eyes with understanding. The bar was full of people who didn’t have many other things going on, people who’d be easy prey for people with less than legal plans. It wouldn’t be the first time either. “It’s not your fault.” Jesse assured him, placing his hand on his shoulder “Besides she could just be home doing something healthier than drinking her issues away.”

“Let’s hope so.” Genji sighed, “Thanks.” He tilted his head against the hand, and watched Jesse fluster slightly.

They were just friends, but Genji knew a man in love when he saw one and Jesse knew that Genji did. Jesse had told him about the fact, but Genji had to turn him down. There were many problems, some that Genji couldn’t share and ones like “You know my life style.” which was finding the most attractive not-Jesse in the bar and taking them home. Jesse understood, and they remain in limbo.

Jesse did once admit that he wasn’t sure if he’d be a very good person to go stable with, considering he too had things he couldn’t share. It was the best for the both of them to not proceed to anything more.

“So when are you getting out? I could use some frozen pizza and video games.”

“The same time as always.” Jesse pulled his hand back. “An hour or so.”

Genji leant back “I was hoping you’d get out early for the weekend again.”

“Boss only has one birthday a year.” Jesse shrugged. “It’s a shame really.”

“Definetly.” Genji tapped on the table. “How about you make waiting a bit better.”

“The usual?”

“Yup.”

With a drink to sip through, Genji was occupied enough so Jesse could work through the one or two more customers who came in. The ones that had been there already started gradually moving out to the dark ally. In one hour, the whole place changed from packed to just Jesse and Genji.

“Alright.” Jesse grabbed his bag. “We’re free to go.”

“Finally.” Genji rolled the bar stool around, and jumped off. He stretched around a little, before turning back to Jesse, who led him outside.

The travel time from the bar to Jesse’s apartment wasn’t that long, especially with the talking and jokes they kept making speeding up the process. Before they knew it Jesse was opening the door.

Once the door was open, Genji immediately threw his jacket at the shelf, kicked off his shoes and fell on Jesse’s couch. “I love your crappy sofa.” He sighed out in relief, turning enough to see Jesse.

“Glad that you do.” Jesse chuckled. “That bastard hurt my toes again.”

“Or maybe you should look where you’re walking.”

“I should, but I won’t.” Jesse threw his jacket on top Genji’s.

Genji nodded in agreement, before sitting up properly on the couch. “So how about that pizza?”

“Getting to it.” Jesse walked through the living room to the kitchen, which was located behind a counter; which made it easier to chit chat with whoever was in the living room. Then he grabbed a box of frozen pizza from the freezer. “Get ready for some Hawaiian.”

“The infamous classic.” Genji grinned and watched Jesse turning the oven on, so it can be preheated.

After that, he joined Genji on the couch. “How are things back home?”

“Hanzo’s like always.” Genji rolled his eyes. “He should go on a vacation or something.”

“He sounds like the kind of guy who’d just get more stressed by that.”

“He is.” Genji agreed. “But maybe he’d realize he’s got a problem.”

“That might work.” Jesse nodded as he turned the console on. “I hope you two can work things out.”

“Yeeah.” Genji grabbed a controlled. “How’s your other job?”

“Not much progress.” Jesse scratched the back of his head. “Things turned out to be more complicated than I expected. My boss is gonna come help me out in a few weeks.”

“I hope things go well.” Genji leant back. “Not that I’d want you to leave sooner.”

“Pretty sure the jobs gonna take a while.” Jesse smirked, “Besides, we can keep in touch.”

He turned to look at the ceiling, and crossed his arms. “I wonder how that’ll go. I’ve never had any kind of long distance relationship.”

“Really?” Jesse asked, clearly a little surprised. “Not even on the internet?”

“Nope.” Genji looked almost proud of the fact. “Everything I need is in Hanamura.”

“That’s one way to live.” Jesse gave him that much. Genji knew of how Jesse was a man who tended not to stay in one place too long, all the stories from his travels were enough to make that clear. Apparently his job required that, but the man didn’t want to share what that job was.

Jesse started with a question “Maybe you could-“ only to be stopped by the alarm he had set up. “Ah- Wait a second.” He got up off the couch, and walked back into the kitchen.

“I could what?” Genji asked, watching Jesse put the pizza in the oven.

“Maybe go somewhere with me sometime.” Jesse clarified.

“But the _dept_.” Genji said, clearly uncomfortable.

Jesse was clearly apologetic: “I could pay, if that’s the issue.”

“Hanzo wouldn’t want me leaving- I can’t. I’m sorry.” Genji explained. “It sounds like fun, but I can’t.”

“That’s fine- If you don’t want to.” Jesse assured, walking back to the couch. “Tell me if things change.”

“I will.” Genji hugged one of his legs. “Hopefully sooner rather than later.”

“No rush.” Jesse gave him a pat. “So how about some video games?”

“I think that’d be good.”

They were both incredibly competitive and talented people, making any game like a battlefield with goofs. Both of their reaction speeds and evil tragedies tended to collide in ways that would either make them both laugh or go silent from the horror they witnessed. In reality it wasn’t as grand, but it felt like it.

Genji had never met anyone who could match his ability, which made Jesse just a bit more of a treasure to behold.

The evening progressed at a nice pace, the pizza was ready just in time, Jesse found an out of bounds glitch and Genji drowned a few times. With just a few slices left, and the clock approaching the next day, it probably made sense to start thinking of going home.

“You know you can get out of the water by pressing A and up.”

Genji squinted his eyes “Don’t test me McCree.” The act didn’t stay up long, as Jesse’s laugh forced him to grin as well.

“What’re you gonna do to me if I do?” Jesse questioned, “Drag me down with you?”

“Face first.” Genji poked his tongue out like a silly little child. “Hope you like fish.”

“If one of them is you.” Jesse smirked.

“You little flirt.” Genji pushed Jesse jokingly. “I’m way cuter than slimy fish.”

“Can’t argue with that.” Jesse shrugged.

There was a soft ding, which came from Genji’s phone. He proceeded to get it from his pocket. “It’s Hanzo.”

“What a surprise.”

“He wants me home.” Genji frowned, before replying. “I guess I got to go.”

“That’s a shame.” Jesse looked disappointed, “But I guess you do need some sleep.”

“All the sleep.” Genji nodded, before getting up from the couch. “You’ve got anything going on tomorrow?”

“Gotta focus on the other job. I want to get _something_ done.” Jesse scratched his beard, “I should be at six if you’ll bring me lunch.”

“Works for me.” Genji accepted, before grabbing his jacket. “I’ll see you then.”

“Wait-“ Jesse stopped him before he could turn the knob. “Could I walk you home?”

“I’ll be fine.” Genji assured.

“Considering what happened to Miss Nakamura-“ Jesse paused, “I just want to make sure you’ll be okay.”

“By walking back here all alone?” Genji pointed out. “Trust me, I’ll be fine.”

“I’d be fine too.”

“I promise I’ll text you once I’m home.” He grabbed Jesse’s shoulder and gave him a determined smile.

Jesse inhaled and exhaled, before agreeing: “Fine, but-“ he continued, “promise to stick to main roads.”

“I will.” Genji promised, and let go of his shoulder. “I’ll see you tommorrow.”

“Stay safe.” Jesse insisted. “You mean a lot to me.”

“You too.” Genji tilted his head, unable and unwilling to fight the silly grin on his face. “See ya.”

With that Genji left the building.

Outside was dark, with the sound of cars echoing in the distance. There were many blind spots in the surveillance and long alleyways that forced a person walk quite the distance before they could join a main road.

From the perspective of Jesse, it would make sense that no-one should go walking out there all alone, but what Jesse didn’t know; was that there was no murderer outside until Genji left his apartment.

Miss Nakamura hadn’t been able to go home before anything happened, which Genji wasn’t exactly _proud_ to admit. Certain things just had to be done, and Genji had a dept to pay. He wasn’t the one who decided it would have to be paid with _souls_ , and without that incentive he’d never do it- That and _staying alive_ , of course.

You see, he was a demon.

That’d be obvious to anyone who could see his green hair convert from a dyed green to a black, and his skin change to unnatural blue with red patterns. Not to mention the horns and fangs that made him look less like a cute boy next door and more like a horrific monster, also there was a sword on his back which just drove the point further. Luckily no-one had to see that, as demons weren’t visible to mortals unless they decided to be, with a few expectations.

With the change done, he proceeded with going home, which was way more fun when you float around.

Apartments close to an allegedly haunted location tended to be cheaper, as people with paranoia wouldn’t want to sometimes even see the building.

This was incredibly useful to two poor brothers, who got kicked out of their home.

Right next to the walls of the Shimada clan’s untouched grounds, there was one of the cheapest apartments in town. Floating onto its balcony, and walking right through the door without even opening it, Genji returned back on two feet right in front of his brother who was clearly not amused.

“You’re late.”

“I got carried away.” Genji bargained, only for Hanzo to roll his eyes.

“We need to hurry, or we’ll have to wait the whole week _again_.”

“I’m sorry.” He apologised sincerely. “I just have other life than the dept.”

“You can have it once we pay up.” Hanzo insisted, and walked past Genji. “Now come on, we have a meeting.”

Genji proceeded to roll his eyes as well, and followed after his brother.

The gate to the Shimada clan’s former grounds was under a minute walk away from the apartment, meaning that it didn’t take too long for them to get here.

The gate itself was beaten down, spray painted, and showed it’s age without any shame. They walked inside, which to a mortal eye seemed just as damaged, but the Shimada clan’s grounds were different between mortals and supernatural entities.

Inside, the place was like a time capsule into the night Shimada clan disappeared. The sky was clear and full of stars, there were no sounds of distant cars, and the old buildings were at their prime.

The only thing that separated it from being a perfect replica, was the quiet. No-one lived there, and there were no crickets or wind to create ambiance. It was all _dead._

They started walking towards the main building.

“Someday this place will be ours again…” Hanzo mumbled, looking at the building ahed of them almost wide-eyed.

Genji couldn’t blame him, it was a marvel too look at. The tall white building with a rising ceilings, the way the moon stayed at the perfect angle to compliment it’s presence and how the cherry blossoms were in never ending bloom. “That’d be nice.”

“I’m glad you at least understand why this is important.” Hanzo gave him that much.

They arrived to the front door, which Genji slid open. Behind the gate they were as human as anyone else, even when they didn’t exactly look the part.

They walked through the middle section, arriving to another door to slide in the back.

“Before we go in there-“ Hanzo stopped Genji. “Promise to be civil.” his voice made it clear that he did not expect Genji to not be civil, but that he was nervous. He needed some kind of promise of things going smoothly, but wasn’t the best with words.

“I promise.” Genji assured him.

“Thank you.” Hanzo moved aside, letting Genji knock on the door.

Although most of the place stayed stagnant in the night the Shimada clan disappeared, the rooms of the building had changed. Instead of leading to the rooms it was meant to, they lead to the offices of higher rank demons, and other beings of the underworld.

It worked both as a reminder that the area was not owned by the brothers’, but also made the dept a little easier to manage; considering the offices were quite the travel distance away normally.

“Come in.” They heard, and did as asked.

If you glanced at the office quickly, it looked very normal, a professional to the point little room, but the longer you looked; the stranger it became. Things like how the owl statue on the desk seemed to breath, or how outside the windows was nothing but empty darkness, were just some parts of the long list.

It was no time to stare at décor, of course. They had a man to meet. He was known as Reaper, which wasn’t very unique considering there were many of his kind; that being someone higher rank than just a lowly little demon, a person who the one on the top throne considered capable enough to choose who deserves to live and die. Though, another part of that job was making sure that those who did the dirty work did it correctly.

“You’re late.” Reaper said, clear and to the point.

“We’re awfully sorry.” Hanzo replied. “We’ll try to be on time next time.”

“That’d be appreciated.” He gestured for them to sit down. “I don’t have much time to spare.”

They did as told.

“Did you get who you were supposed to?” Reaper asked, looking through a list he had on the table.

“Yes, we did.” Hanzo said, Genji could feel the relief in Hanzo’s words for being able to say ‘we’ for once.

“Alright, I’ll be taking the souls now.” He spun his finger, and two blindingly bright orbs flew from their weapons.

“How’s their worth?”

“Let’s see.” Reaper examined them. “A little below average.”

“As always.” Genji mumbled under his breath, luckily neither of the two could hear it.

“There’s enough to keep you two alive for the next month, and a little extra to pay some of the dept off.” Reaper explained even though everyone in the room knew what “A little below average” meant at this point, it was just part of the job to explain it. “I haven’t found new targets for you two, but I’ll have them for next Tuesday. As you brought two souls instead of one, I’m sure those targets can both be used to pay.”

“Alright.” Hanzo nodded once. “Thank you.”

Reaper gestured for them to leave, and that’s exactly what they did.

After the door closed behind the, Hanzo took a deep breath and sighed.

“We’ll get through this.” Genji tried to reassure him, only to watch him start walking past him back to their apartment.

“Yes, but it will take forever.”

“We have forever.”

Hanzo’s hand curled up to a fist, but before he blew up he exhaled and calmed himself down. “Not if we can just about keep ourselves fed.”

“Reaper knows what kind of targets we need for that and if things fail we can just buy-“

“It can’t come to that.” Hanzo made his stance very clear. “That’d 6 targets worth of work away.”

“But we still have forever.” Genji pointed out. “You know there are demons with centuries of being in dept. It’s just how most of us live.”

“I don’t want it to be like that.” Hanzo asserted. “We’re in a rare position of not having a manageable amount of dept compared to many others. We could live stress free and travel, not to mention we’d get the clan grounds back.”

“That’d be great- But it doesn’t have to happen immediately.”

“Well we’d be much further in the process if you contributed more.” Hanzo complained. “You heard what Reaper said. If we’d both get souls periodically we’d get to pay up multiple souls instead of a fourth of one.”

“Well it’s not my fault he gives me bad targets.”

“You could _tell him **that**._ ”

“What?” Genji asked, clearly done with the whole conversation.

“You go see him next Tuesday and explain the situation. Understood?”

“…fine.”

“Good.” Hanzo sighed, before walking in through the balcony door.

They had arrived back to their empty apartment. Considering neither of them needed any substances nor sleep, it made a lot of furniture just for show. Which they did have- Can’t have people suspicious, it just looked a lot like an Ikea showcase.

“I’ll be in my room, if you need me.” Hanzo said, before walking to his room.

“Alright.”

Hanzo tended to mostly read, practise or meditate. Although Genji found the activities quite boring most of the time, he couldn’t really be against his brother doing something other than demonic murder and stressing over demonic murder.

Genji walked to his room, that’s how they usually spent their time during the night. Neither of them slept, but also walking outside all day and all night would get suspicious. So they tended to turn all their lights off and try to be quiet for their neighbors’ sake.

Genji preferred hanging around as a human, unlike Hanzo. Which meant that when he sat down on his bed he one again had his green hair and could pull out a phone from a pocket.

Which he realized to be was full of messages from Jesse.

“You home yet?”

“Genji?”

They started off calm, but slowly changed to something more akin to panic.

“God fucking dammit I’m so sorry”

“I’m so sorry I’m so sorry”

“Please for the love of god reply and make me feel like a big doofus for sending you so many texts”

“Please”

“Genji”

Genji felt a strange sinking feeling in his chest, the pure worry the messages breathed was like a fist to the face for him. How did he forget- How did he _dare_ to forget.

He quickly selected Jesse’s number from his phone and called him.

“ _Genji?_ ” Jesse asked from the other side of the line, he sounded like he was out of breath.

“I’m fine- I’m sorry I didn’t message you.” Genji paused to catch his breath, ”I forgot.”

“Jesus fucking Christ, thank god.”

“I’m sorry that I worried you. I’m so sorry.”

“Not it’s fine,” Jesse sounded happier than anyone Genji had ever heard before, like a huge weight would’ve been off his chest. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”

“I should’ve messaged you- But a family thing came up and I forgot the whole thing.”

“It’s fine. It’s all fine.” Jesse assured. “As long as you’re okay.”

“You’re okay too, right?”

“I am now!” Jesse replied. “A little bit overflowing with adrenaline but- Thank god just, I can’t tell you how happy I am that you’re okay. I know I’ll probably regret everything I’m sayin’ right now but goddammit.”

The absolute relief and delight in his words was heart-warming, Genji couldn’t help but smile in his dark room, he could hear Jesse fighting back _tears_. It was insane.

“I…” Jesse went silent for a moment, with the only sounds being sniffs and the city itself. “I’m sorry that I’m overeacting…”

“It’s… Kind of wonderful.” Genji replied, the delight clear in his tone. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone so happy to hear from me.”

“Well it’s about time!” Jesse sounded jokingly angry. “But- Really, you’re a great guy. Like- Maybe one of the greatest guys I’ve ever met.”

“I’m sure that’s a long list.”

“It’s a list of two.”

“Oh wow-“ Genji was caught a little off guard.

“…Speaking of that- Haha, it’s…” Jesse trailed off, “…A funny coincidence actually.”

Genji stayed silent, he wasn’t sure what to say.

“The other guy from that list… actually, well, isn’t around anymore.” Jesse’s voice was extraordinarily ambiguous. “It was actually a lot like now …A mysterious disappearance- That kind of shit.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.” Genji wasn’t sure how that made him feel in the slightest.

“What I’m trying to say- Is that I’m really happy that didn’t happen again.” Jesse laughed afterwards, “I’m sorry if I’m making you uncomfortable. I know you don’t like me as much as I do you.”

“You’re not.” It wasn’t a lie. He didn’t exactly know how he felt, but he knew it wasn’t a negative emotion. It was nice knowing someone cared about him enough to go absolutely breathless of worry if there was a possibility that something bad could’ve happened. “I’m honoured…” He laughed a little nervously “I guess.”

“Aaw, now I’m smiling.” He paused, “But- You know I should probably stop while I’m ahead.”

“I’ll come see you tomorrow.” Genji reminded him.

“Don’t forget.”

Genji laughed: “I won’t.”

After that the sound of the call ending replaced the smiling voice of Jesse. It was a little saddening, really. It felt like a warm bright light had disappeared, leaving Genji into a dark cold room sitting on the floor.

He leant back, staring at the ceiling.

It was strange, he felt strange. Somehow despite that, he felt pleasant.

That night went by in him kind of just laying back and thinking, while scrolling on his phone. His thoughts were muddled and messy, and the idea of having to wait to see Jesse so late the next day and not right away pained him.

But his thoughts changed direction quickly, when he _coughed._

It was bizarre, mostly because Genji knew that demons couldn’t get sick. Perhaps it wasn’t important.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really hope the length didn't work against the chapter. Before I knew it there were 4 000 words, whoops.  
> But please tell me what you thought! The feedback here is always so great to see <3


	2. Head for the hills

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanna warn you ahead of time that the end of this chapter is rather lackluster. I like most of the chapter myself, so I hope it's at least an okay little break from the world. :'0
> 
> Also I have not reread this, whoops.

Jesse had said too much, no question about it. He didn’t mind sharing facts about himself, well, not when the person was someone he considered a good fellow. There was a limit to his openness though, with large walls and barbed wire to make the line between acceptable and unacceptable clear.

Human error was still an issue with something like that, and last night the guard got emotional and opened the gates. Jesse could only hope that little guy got fired, and found another job somewhere else. It might’ve been a figment of his imagination but unemployment wasn’t a good time.

Jesse knew that letting the whole fiasco bother him all day wasn’t going to help anyone, and so made his first task of the day to figure out how to resolve the situation; which would be as easy as to apologise to Genji and seeing what his reaction is. Depending on how he’ll react Jesse can figure out if he ruined another relationship or if Genji was as good as Jesse hoped.

Even so, he’d meet Genji later as they had agreed, which meant he had to somehow completely ignore the nagging thoughts and doubts the situation had brought up. Lucky for him, he had already decided to drown himself in work that day.

After the dull daily morning routine, he proceeded to walk past his living room, to a room that was meant to be a bedroom. It wasn’t though, as Jesse had another use for it, and also owned a sofa that could be turned to a bed.

The-not-bedroom was now his office, with a table, chair and a window covered by a closet. The walls were lined with things that could only be described as arts and crafts projects, and the table covered in notes, unfinished crafts, and a gun.

Next to the gun was an old laptop, which Jesse proceeded to turn on. It opened to many unclosed tabs, a few forums talking about supernatural experiences on Hanamura’s own travel website, and the rest about various news articles and some supernatural fanatics blog post on Hanamura.

You see, Jesse was a demon hunter.

And although the title sounded very exciting, it was mostly just him sitting or walking around trying to find leads; which was also one of the biggest hurdles he was currently facing.

Simply put: all the leads he had discovered so far were dead ends.

Originally the mission had seemed like a challenging but plausible job for one person, and since Hanamura had been on the list for a long time he was already familiar with a lot of places to start looking from. Sadly the more he looked, the less it seemed like he had grasp on anything.

The original idea what that there was demon hunting in a bar full of depressed loners, but after being undercover in the place for quite a while already he realized that it couldn’t be the case. People disappeared outside of the expected boarder of the demon’s grounds, as well as none of his charms were reacting to anything.

Another theory he had was that there were two demons, but the amount of times the hunting grounds seemed to overlap made the theory confusing; either they were working together, or their employers were playing some sick game to get them to fight each other.

No matter which one was correct, if either, the happenings in Hanamura were one of a kind, which meant that Jesse wasn’t going to be able to continue alone.

His co-worker, and boss, had promised to join up with him, but Jesse wasn’t going to wait for her to arrive before he’d continue working. Maybe he wouldn’t be able to solve it all alone, but he could find a place for them to begin at.

This turned out much more difficult than he had expected it to, and hours into just looking through links and forums with nothing of substance, he was starting to get frustrated. There was a reason he hadn’t been doing much work in the past week, and being reminded of it wasn’t exactly a blast.

He decided to take a short break, move his muscles and grab frozen leftover fries from the fridge.

Once he arrived back by the screen, it was open on the Hanamura travel forums. It was about some old lady who saw a man disappear into thin air and got spooked. The other writers on it were also colourful people that Jesse would never want to be acquaintances with. At least the description of the man the old lady had seen was interesting.

The traits weren’t anything too special, black hair, and clothing fit for the season. The only stand out feature the lady mentioned was the length of his hair. Which was apparently long, and the lady was worried it was god taking action against those “drag people” her nephew has told her about, as she didn’t want her nephew to disappear into thin air for no good reason.

Otherwise the forum hadn’t given him anything of substance, it might as well have been just a big advert, which it was.

Then out of the blue, something caught his attention. It was an advertisement on the sidebar of the website.

“Shimada clan, the criminal empire that disappeared into thin air.” It was about a museum exhibit. Against his usual judgement, he clicked on it.

The information on the page was mostly just about when the exhibit is open, and where it can be found. What Jesse focused on was the short description of the exhibit’s subject itself.

Apparently Hanamura had housed a famous and proud clan, which disappeared into thin air one day out of the blue, leaving the buildings vacant, with no blood, or signs of a struggle. Through the years no-one researching the subject has been able to figure out what happened, but religions all around the world have recognised it as an act of divine justice.

Jesse had to admit he was a little dumbfounded, the information was exactly what he was hoping to find; A peek of a bigger image.

To think an advertisement could be of use, he joked to himself before proceeding with the research.

He figured he should go see the place of the crime, and maybe even the museum. That is, if he had money for the tickets.

For now he got the address for the Shimada clan’s grounds. He doubted he could just march in, but at least he’d get to look into the subject to a degree. It beat sitting around reading tourists ghosty-experiences.

He grabbed a bag that was lying in the corner, and made sure it had the right items, before heading out.

The journey to that part of town took a while mostly because he travelled on feet, but the change of scenery was enough to distract him from the passage of time; which was the main reason he had decided to ignore public transport.

The way the road slowly headed upwards, and the buildings around him seemed to turn more and more into something you’d see on a postcard was rather eye catching.

It seemed that the area close to the clan’s old grounds had been kept rather similar to the way it had been back in the day, or at least that’s what Jesse assumed. Although seeing an arcade and who-knows-what-kind-of-freaky-green-thing-that-statue-is-supposed-to-be right by his destination was a bit of a whiplash.

Even then, he had arrived, and it was quickly apparent that he was not getting in. The walls were huge, and the gates were closed with a sign “Do not enter” in very eye-catching colours nailed onto it.

At least he’d get to look around a bit on the outside.

The walls didn’t look too well kept; Jesse supposed it wasn’t much of a priority for whoever owned the property currently. To add to the normal signs of aging wood, there was a few spray paintings and a hole or two. The holes were probably done a long time ago, maybe someone really hated the Shimada clan and was happy they could finally blow holes in their property.

He pulled out a charm from his bag, which of course looked like a silly art piece, but that didn’t stop it from being a powerful tool.

It didn’t detect demons, but their sanctuaries, which were located in the same space as the physical world’s counterpart, but were inaccessible for the living. No-one really knew what it was like inside one, considering most demons weren’t sane enough to be able to answer.

It was hard to describe how happy Jesse was to see the detector confirming his suspicion. He had gotten so incredibly frustrated with the lack of _any_ response from any of his other charms. It was a great relief to know that at least something was still following the rules he had been used to.

The amount of questions it brought up was also rather comforting, considering that now he at least had some idea of what to do next.

He lifted his hand against the old wall, no reason in particular. Maybe it could’ve been read as a thank you, to a degree.

“Hey, don’t touch that.” He heard behind him, in the most smug voice possible. “or you’ll die.”

“I guess this is it for me.” Jesse chuckled, putting the charm quickly into his bag before his company would get a good glimpse of it. “Had a good run.”

Genji laughed, his stance relaxed and hands in his pockets. “Can I get your pudding stash, then?”

“Sure, but I feel like you’re joki-“ He playfully cut himself, replacing the rest of the sentence with a beautifully fake coughing fit.

This time Genji didn’t laugh, but Jesse appreciated his smile just as much.

“Anyways,” He took charge, “what’re you doing here? Weren’t you supposed to be working?”

“Do I look like the guy who’s job is about sitting indoors all day?” Jesse pointed out.

“Good point.” Genji admitted,  “It’s just kind of funny since I live close by.”

“Really? So you know the area well?”

“Like the insides of my pockets.” Genji boasted, pulling his pocket’s inside out.

Jesse grinned: “What a fancy area to live at for a guy who doesn’t even have a job.”

“Oh, our apartment is _cheap_.” Genji said as he tidied his pockets, “Living next to a haunted house really helps with pricing.”

“You mean the Shimada clan’s grounds?” Jesse asked, glancing at the wall next to him.

“You’ve heard about them, huh?” Genji nodded, before giving the gate a light pat.

“Saw an advertisement, nothing more than that really.” Jesse explained. “Something about them being criminals and disappearing into thin air.”

“Pretty sure it was aliens.” Genji relaxes his posture again.

“The only logical conclusion.” Jesse agreed. “Wonder what Aliens wanted with a bunch of criminals.”

“Friends?” Genji shrugged.

“Most definitely.” Jesse nodded.

Genji took a few steps back, “So, are you busy?”

Jesse scratched his beard, trying to figure if he was busy or not. He could keep looking into answering things like how many demons are there if a whole clan got poofed, or why it went poof in the first place, _but_ he could also spend time with Genji. The question could be answered later, and he still had time before his boss would come help him out.

“Nah, I have time.” He decided.

“Guess  I don’t have to grab food for us alone.” Genji smirked, and started leading the way.

“It’s a bit early for that.” Jesse pointed out. “We could do something else first.”

“Any suggestions?” Genji asked, watching Jesse catch up to him.

“Can’t say I know many options.” Jesse admitted. “Mostly just food places, though I did read up about a museum exhibit about the Shimada clan.”

“I’ve been meaning to go there.” Genji stated, which caught Jesse a little off guard. He didn’t expect Genji to be interested in the subject.

“Really?”

“Sure, I mean I live right next to the creepy grounds, might as well learn more about who lived there.” Genji explained.

“Makes sense.”

They both agreed, and decided to go see the exhibit. At first the issue of money came up, but Genji assured it’d be fine. Jesse was quite surprised when it turned out that the cashier was an acquaintance of Genji’s, and let him in for free. Seeing how red the cashier’s face was, turned out to be exactly enough information let Jesse theorize how they knew each other.

“Do you get to go to places for free often?” Jesse joked, walking into the exhibit.

“I know how to pick my targets.” Genji smirked.

“You’ve got too much free time.”

“I get that a lot.”

The exhibit was surprisingly fancy, with brick walls painted to look like the view of the shimada clan’s grounds. There were cute little mannequin set ups of little scenes with information next to them, and many other interesting little things.

Jesse wasn’t that interested in the history of the Shimada clan, as he was much more interested in actually learning about something that could explain how they were avoiding his detectors. Genji on the other hand, seemed quiet intrigued.

Jesse hadn’t considered Genji the type to get excited about history, but there he was reading every informational slate on the wall. It was kind of nice, actually. Jesse hadn’t seen such a proper side of Genji before, and he had to admit it was a pleasant change of pace.

He hadn’t really imagined going to a museum with Genji, but even if he had, he never could’ve imagined how calming it’d be.

Usually Genji’s company would get him to laugh, and forget all his worries, but now he felt content just standing there looking at wax people as Genji read. It was great.

“Did you know that even in their last few years they still used traditional weapons over guns?” Genji asked, while reading.

“Well that’s intrestin’.” Jesse commented, looking at the salvaged swords found in the clan’s storages. “Can’t say bringing a sword to a gun fight is the best idea in the world.”

“Guess so.” Genji shrugged. “They’re still pretty fun to look at, right?”

“Eeyup.”

They moved on, finally reaching the section about the disappearance. There was no one big wax scene, but a lot of smaller displays about the theories people had about the subject. There was also a wall of facts, which interested Jesse beyond the silly ideas about the clan being eaten by a big space worm, which seemed to catch Genji’s attention.

The main story Jesse gathered form the facts, was that the Shimada clan’s leader wanted powerful sons, and on the birthday of his second son the disappearance occurred. After it had happened people like prisoners that had no blood connection with the clan were still around, but could only describe seeing a “bright light.”

Must’ve been the big guy upstairs, Jesse figured.

Genji walked up to him: “Weird stuff, huh?”

“Pretty unbelievable.” Jesse shrugged. “Still gotta wonder what the bright light was.”

“A ghost truck?”

“A time travelin’ ghost truck.” Jesse nodded in agreement.

After that they left the exhibit, as they were both satisfied with the little journey.

Genji stretched a bit: “So how’bout some food?”

“Yes, please.” Jesse agreed.

They grabbed some take out with Jesse’s pay, and arrived to his apartment to enjoy the food. Jesse turned the lights on, and closed the door behind him. Genji was already making himself at home on his sofa, spreading the food on the coffee-and-dining-table-in-one.

Jesse placed his jacket on the hanger, before realizing he still had his bag with him. “I’ll go drop this off in the office.” He explained, and proceeded to the door.

“Should I close my eyes?” Genji joked, as Jesse placed the back in the corner.

“Thanks for the offer,” He closed the door back up, “but I don’t think that’s necessary.” Jesse doubted Genji would get too suspicious over a bunch of arts and crafts projects on the walls.

“Got it.” Genji replied, it was pretty obvious that he hadn’t been paying attention to anything but the food.

Jesse went ahead and sat right next to him on the sofa. They started to dig into the meal, and talk about this and that.

“So what do you do all day?” Jesse asked.

“Like I’ve said; nothing much.” Genji replied. “Hang around, and avoid responsibility.”

“That’s one way to live.” Jesse said, his tone understanding even if it was clear that he didn’t completely see the appeal. “I like havin’ responsibility. Keeps you grounded and makes you feel needed”

“Guess so.” Genji shrugged. “There are just a bunch of things I would rather not be needed in.”

“You wanna talk about that?”

“Not really.” Genji leant back on the sofa. “Thanks for the offer, though.”

“The least I can do.” He gave him a soft pat on the shoulder. He knew he wanted to keep holding onto Genji, and pulling his hand back felt empty compared to the warmth it had felt a moment before. Jesse knew to keep the distance between them though, if one side didn’t want anything more than a friendship then he wasn’t going to force it. It’s not like he had too many friends.

“Are you doing alright, by the way?” Genji asked, cautiously locking their eyes.

“Oh- What do you mean?” Jesse asked, although he already had a hunch of where this was going.

“The call last night…” Genji explained, clearly trying to be careful with his choise of words, “… You sounded pretty freaked out.”

“Oh hah. Yeah.” Jesse chuckled forcefully. “I’m fine.”

There was a moment of pause between them, both unsure of what to say. Jesse could only picture how Genji was quilting himself with even bringing it up.

“I was meaning to say something about it, actually.” Jesse tried his best to carry the situation to a safer place.

“Oh?”

“I meant to apologise.” Jesse explained. “I said quite a lot of emotional shit there.”

“It’s fine Jesse-“

“I don’t want to quilt you into thinking you’d have to be okay with that” Jesse insited, “You don’t have to carry my issues.”

“Jesse.” Genji grabbed Jesse’s face with his hands, which left his train of thought in shambles. “No-one has ever made me feel so _cared_ about.” Each word from his mouth came out more and more careful, with his voice heavy and breathy.

Jesse felt his own expression shift to deep curiosity.

“…That was… harder to say than I expected.” Genji tried to explain away the quieting words. “Look; I’ll just do something stupid, and you’ll stop me if you don’t want that.”

Before he could even question what Genji meant, he pushed against him, and _kissed_ him.

He embraced it almost right away, greeting the warmth he had been craving with open arms. It wasn’t a long kiss, and left Jesse craving for more, but the way Genji started laughing after had him content.

“Was it that bad?” Jesse teased.

“No-“ Genji took a moment to gather himself. “I just didn’t expect you to be so okay with it.”

“Darlin’ you’ve had me charmed for weeks now.” Jesse explained, reaching his hand on his cheek.

Genji’s smile was so immensely bright that Jesse couldn’t even imagen looking away. “I’m sorry I’ve kept you waiting.”

“What changed your mind?”

“I,” Genji started, but had to stop to find the words, “realized that I’ll probably regret it if I don’t make the most of you being here.”

“Works for me.”

They proceeded to kiss again, mostly because both of them had run out of words to speak, and there was a curiosity of what all this meant for them.

Afterwards they finished up the take out, and figured that maybe instead of awkwardly sitting next to each other they could now lean against one another.

It felt like the beginning of something nice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This whole chapters was a difficult mess to work on. The first part of Jesse being ALONE and walking around giving out exposition was really difficult for obvious reasons, until I decided to just throw out writing it well and instead went with writing it in a way that was entertaining for myself personally. So if it feels a little weird compared to the rest; that's why. (Although I personally really like it)
> 
> Not to mention the MESS that the ending part was, oh boy.  
> Slow burns are fun to write because you can decide "Okay they're not ready yet, I'll come up with more fun shenanigans and do this again later, and then the audience thinks it was a planned call back to the earlier version of the event."  
> but because this story has other stuff going on I can't really use that, and had to get it to happen here and now. I'll admit, it's not very good, but it's there and now I can move onto the parts of the story that I'm the most excited about. Let's hope it's done a little faster :'D
> 
> Also comments are definitely appreciated,, ; v ;


	3. Thank god

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm quite proud of this chapter : )
> 
> Warnings for the tag "graphic illness" making it's entrance, and a syringe doing the stabby stab (later chapters will have more stabby stabs, so if that's uncomftorable to you then this is your chance to turn around. (Also things that can bother someone who's for example suicidal or afraid of death. (A few perspectives on death in this one))
> 
> And of course I haven't read this over after writing it.

Genji liked holding Jesse close, listening to his heart, and feel his warmth against him. He greatly enjoyed the last few weeks of being beyond friends with him, but there was one thing that had started to invade his thoughts.

He had been coughing again. At first it was widely scattered, here and there. Small little annoyances, that he as a reckless person; he ignored.

Then they started becoming more apparent; he started having _coughing_ _fits_. He’d jerk forwards, and be unable to stop the barrage of coughs. He couldn’t believe humans were just casually used to losing control like that.

His throat would hurt after; it was like it was trying to leave with each cough. That pain being what finally had him realize that _maybe_ he should do something.

“I’m heading out!” He informed his brother, and headed to the exit of their apartment.

“Wait.” Hanzo stopped him, “You’re not going to that “Jesse’s” place again, right?”

Genji kind of understood why his brother wasn’t exactly happy that he had almost completely abandoned their apartment for Jesse’s at this point, but Genji couldn’t say around Hanzo with the coughing and all. He’d get worried, and then more stressed, and then Genji would’ve made his life even worse, _again_.

“Nah.” Genji assured him, though the relief in Hanzo’s expression wasn’t a sight he liked having associated with the subject matter. “I’ll be back in a bit.”

“Good.” He crossed his arms. “We have matters to discuss.”

“…How fun.” Genji said, a bit concerned.

With that he was allowed to leave once again, and he headed straight to the Shimada clan’s grounds. Within the main building was, of course, more than just the Reaper. If your job only includes the boss, it’s probably not a very good one after all.

He knocked on the door, and a terrifyingly sweet voice invited him inside.

“What is it, Genji?” The voice’s owner; their workplace doctor asked once he was inside. “Did a human put up a fight for once?”

Genji shook his head, a bit in trouble with finding the right words.

The doctor, also known as Angela Ziegler when she was alive, who now went by the name Mercy, was one of the scariest demonic beings Genji knew of. A sickly sweet woman who seemed to lack empathy.

From what he had gathered, apparently she had made a deal with the devil to not have any of her patients die, in exchange for her ability to understand pain. What she didn’t know was that becoming a demon was technically not dying. Which probably wasn’t as a bad of a deal once she started treating dead patients as a high ranking demon herself.

Which probably was the devil’s plan; the demand for doctors in the underworld was high.

“I think I might be… _sick_?” The whole sentence felt unnatural to Genji, as being sick was something he never imaged he’d have to be.

“Oh?” The implications of Genji’s statement seemed to catch her curiosity, and she jumped off the table she was sitting on to take a quick looksee of Genji. “That’s impossible.”

“Tell that to the coughing fits.” Genji spoke, almost defensive.

“Hmm…” She continued to stare at Genji as she walked around him. “I wonder…”

“What?”

“You and your brother are special,” Mercy explained, “as you know.”

Genji stepped back to stop her from going for yet another round around him. “Yes?”

“uncommon, extraordinary, rarities,” She continued, “you play with different rules.”

She stepped back as well, and leaned against the table she had sat on before. “Has anything relating to your deaths happened recently?”

“…No?” Genji asked, his eyebrows lightly furrowed, “No gods have appeared to make people go poof.”

“But why did god themselves think that your family and anyone related to it should be gone forever without a trace?”

“…”

“You’re in _love_ , aren’t you?” She asked, less like a doctor and more like a middle school bully.

“Let’s go with that.” Genji felt himself tense up.

“In that case,” Mercy gave him a pat on the shoulder, ”it must be the God-curse.”

Hanzo and Genji were told of God-curses when they were very young- And dead. The concept was simple; god curses someone, and unlike most curses, his curses are unbreakable. They seem to be used mainly to punish people for acting out of line.

It was only logical to assume that the brothers had been cursed, but the rules of the curse were only something God- And maybe their mother knew of.

It being about love suddenly seemed terrifyingly plausible.

“So God made me get the flu if I fell in love?” Genji asked, somewhat to raise the mood. He was feeling a strange dread he couldn’t describe, maybe the subconscious part of his brain had already connected dots that he couldn’t even imagen.

“Of course it’s far more dangerous, silly.” She threw the idea of a lighter mood to the ground quickly and efficiently, “You’ll die if nothing changes.”

“...Are you sure?”

“Yes.” She nodded. ”I’ve never heard of a God-curse that didn’t end in a fatality.”

Genji went silent, the thoughts in his brain had him overloaded, and he wasn’t truly certain he was feeling _anything._ It’s like his brain had shut up, completely blocking out the idea he’d…

“So stop loving, kill the target of your affection, or disappear from existence.” She put it bluntly.

“…But your patients can’t die?”

“My power can’t over-ride God’s.”

“Right…” Genji could barely think a full sentence anymore. The thing that finally knocked him out of shock was the small cough that escalated to another fit. He covered his mouth, hoping for it to end. The pain was horrible, mostly because he wasn’t used to feeling any sort of pain, but also because of the implications he now had to somehow face.

“Did your brother send you here?” Mercy asked, as she sat back down on the table, as if she was waiting for Genji to leave.

“What-“ The coughs ceased again, “-No, he doesn’t know.”

“How have you been able to hide something like this?” She asked, Genji almost thanked god for the lack of a smile on her lips. The constant unshaken smirk had started to feel like a joke. Not that her curious expression was much better.

“I’ve been away from our apartment…”

“Will you tell him now?”

“No.”

“Oh well.” She shrugged, “It’s none of my business.”

“….Do you think I could hide the coughs somehow?”

She took a moment to think, before she hopped back on her feet and let a staff appear on her palm. Most demons were able to summon a weapon, as the underworld favoured people who had slain before as it meant they’d do their job properly. Mercy was one of the rare expectations, as her soul powered magical wand wasn’t a weapon as far as Genji knew. “I can stop them for an hour.” She concluded after looking him over one more time. “After that you’ll have to come back here for another shot.”

“Shot?”

Before he could react, he felt himself be stabbed staff’s needle. A needle he didn’t know existed. Guess he was wrong about the weapon thing- Because _ow_.

With the who-knows-what-demonic-doctor-weapon-insides pocked into him, he returned back to his and Hanzo’s apartment. He made it quick, and tried to avoid thinking about what he had just heard. He had just been out on town, he didn’t just hear that he’ll die, _nope_.

Hanzo was in the kitchen, using their computer, that they had stolen from one of the targets. They stole the wi-fi too; from the people upstairs.

Hanzo’s search history was one of the weirdest things Genji knew of.

“I’m back.” He greeted.

“Where were you?” Hanzo asked quicker than Genji could’ve ever been ready for, it was almost like he wasn’t invested at all on what was on the screen before him.

“I went for a walk.” Genji explained, “Haven’t had alone time in a while.”

“…Understandable.” Hanzo took the excuse surprisingly well. He took the silence that followed it to close the laptop in front of him. “I hope it worked as intended.”

“I think it made it worse, actually.” Genji shrugged. “It’s no big deal, though.”

“You can talk to me.” Hanzo spoke, almost like if he didn’t reply fast enough that Genji would leave.

“It’s nothing important.” Genji insisted. “Trust me.”

“As you wish.” Hanzo seemed slightly upset. “Would you sit down? I want to talk to you.”

“Sure.” Genji agreed, and did as asked.

With them both settled down, a silence fell in the room. Genji let his eyes dart around as he didn’t know if he should look at Hanzo who was staring at him. He was _done_ with stares for one day already. “So…” He started, in hopes of Hanzo finally getting on with it.

“Right-“ Hanzo looked away right after, “Sorry. I’m not sure how to express what I have in mind.”

“Take your time.” Genji reassured him, although he would prefer the chat being quick. “It’s not like we need sleep or something. You’ve got the whole night.” An hour, is what Genji knew the truth to be.

“That’s… Relating to it, actually.” Hanzo finally started, “We don’t need sleep.”

“Yes?”

“Yet you’ve been sleeping at “Jesse’s” apartment.” Hanzo pointed out, “And eating, drinking, who knows what.”

“Nah; that’s about it if we’re talking about basic needs.”

“…As I was saying;” Hanzo didn’t appreciate Genji’s comment, “We don’t have any other basic need than the fact we have to consume souls.”

“But we can do the other stuff.” Genji held his defences. “So why not do them?”

“Because you’re not a human, Genji.” Hanzo’s voice changed quickly to something more aggressive than before, “We’re dead.”

Genji furrowed his brows, and Hanzo took it as a sign to keep at it.

“I know you can’t accept that-“

“ _What?_ ” Genji felt his frustration turn to anger.

“That’s why you’re doing all this, right? If you would’ve had the chance to live maybe you’d actually focus on what matters-“

“And enjoying my eternal existence isn’t what matters?” Genji asked, his voice defensive and expression aflame.

“No- It-“ Hanzo slammed the table trying to find words, “We can enjoy it when the dept is payed.”

“Again with the dept-“

“It’s _important_.”

“Why can’t you just enjoy where we are already?” Genji slammed his hands on the table, as if to rival Hanzo’s behaviour. “Why does it matter to you so much that we’d be free to go around the world, if you don’t even want to interact with it.”

“Maybe- _Maybe_ I could enjoy it if you’d actually do your _job_.” The fury in Hanzo’s voice was more than clear by now. “I do my best to keep us alive and you just run around town getting attached to your targets.”

Genji could only huff, the frustration having built up too much for him to think clearly anymore.

“What’s this “Jesse” guy, anyways?” Hanzo just kept at it. “How many times do people have to die for you to learn to not get close?”

Genji couldn’t take it anymore, and proceeded to grab the table and throw it at Hanzo. It went right through him, but it was a big enough distraction that Genji could leave the apartment again.

At least he had a reason to stay away from there.

It didn’t take long for Genji to figure out exactly what he needed after everything that had transpired.

And so; Jesse served him a drink, once he arrived to his usual seat in the bar.

“You don’t look too well, darlin’.” He spoke to him, not too worried about actually doing his job, mostly because it was almost closing time.

“I’m not.” Genji scratched his forehead; he could _feel_ the worried expression Jesse must’ve been making. He couldn’t bother looking at anything but the table before him. “Not feeling up to talking about it right now.”

“That’s fine.” Jesse placed his hand Genji’s cheek to comfort him lightly, “just tell me if there’s anythin’ you need.”

“Mind if I stay at your place again?” He welcomed the hand with a little kiss on it, which had Jesse smiling. Usually it would be exactly what he’d need to cheer up, but something about knowing he’s dying because of that smile did tamper with his joy a little- that being very little.

He couldn’t believe how quickly he had fallen in deep.

“Not in the slightest.” Jesse assured, “Though, the day after tommorrow my boss will come over.”

“The secret job?”

“Yup.” Jesse gave him a nod, and pulled out his wallet from his pocket. “Though she has pretty much demanded to meet you.”

“What?” Genji didn’t even try to hide his curiosity anymore, and the smile Jesse gave seeing him do anything other than frown was enough for him to know it to be the right decision. “Why?”

“She’s very invested in my well being.” Jesse explained, showing Genji a picture of her, him and two other males. One of their faces was covered by his thumb. Genji supposed it wasn’t on purpose. “That’s her.”

“Is that you when you were younger?” Genji’s attention didn’t exactly go to the direction Jesse had hoped.

“Oh- Hah, yeah.” Jesse admitted, a little embarrassed. “Been in the business for a long time.”

Genji couldn’t help but to smile at how happy everyone in the image were, holding their hands on Jesse’s shoulders and clearly happy about more than just having to smile on camera.

“You all look close.”

“They’re kinda like my family.” Jesse said, the warmth in his voice lighting up the dim bar.

“Must be nice.” Genji grinned, leaning against his palm. He might’ve been a little jealous.

“It’s pretty great.” Jesse nodded, though Genji couldn’t help but to feel that he had downplayed it. “How’bout you?”

“Hm?”

“Your family?”

“Just me and Hanzo.” Genji explained, spinning the drink in his hand before taking a sip. “We were in the care of a bunch of people, got tossed around, and now we’re old enough that no-one has to try anymore.”

“Damn.” Jesse looked stunned. Genji was a little proud to have gotten Jesse’s speechless. “And now you’re in dept.”

“What can you do.” Genji shrugged, and took another sip.

“No wonder you’re here so often.” Jesse joked, and Genji gave him a smile.

“It’s not all bad.” Genji gestured towards the whole of McCree, “The bar has it’s good sides.”  
  
Before Jesse could get a chance to chuckle at the fun compliment, Genji started coughing again. He had coughed in front of Jesse before, mostly because in front of him it seemed like the most normal thing in the world. But this time it felt different; much stronger.

If before it felt like his throat was trying to leave, now it felt like it was succeeding. Each cough making his heart sink more and more. They were bad enough when he thought of them as strange, actually knowing they were a sign of him dying was _terrifying_.

When the coughing finally ceased, Genji could barely think through the emotional response he had to face.

“Damn- That was harsh.” Jesse said, his voice sorry. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah-“ Genji felt bad opening his mouth. The words felt painful against his throat. “Just… sick.”

“Let’s hope it’s a short one.” Jesse grabbed Genji a glass of water to help the throat pain, and Genji accepted the offer. “Coughing can get pretty nasty.”

“Yup…” He drank half of the glass in one long lift of the glass, before letting Jesse to put the rest down the drain.

It was pretty obvious that the hour had passed, which also meant that Jesse was free to go home.

They walked to his apartment together, talking about this and that. Genji was happy to have a way to distract him from… everything, really. Even if the thoughts came up now and then, and were hard to push aside.

He didn’t want to admit himself how much he appreciated Jesse’s company. Even when he knew that his caring looks, soft touches and jokes that Genji unable to keep his eyes open, were only having him stuck to a dangerous situation, he couldn’t leave.

He had never truly been in love before, and it was exhilarating. He almost wondered if it was really that bad of a way to go…

“Have you ever been in a relationship, before this?” Genji asked, seeking eye contact from Jesse who returned it.

“Not really.” Jesse admitted, “I’ve had pretty exciting nights, and met a lot of colourful people, but can’t say any of them have been like you in the slightest.”

“Same.” Genji smiled lightly, something about how much he shared with Jesse was heart-warming. “I can’t believe you’re leaving so soon.”

Jesse looked away right away after, brushing a few hairs off his face, it was like he was avoiding the fact, “It’s a shame.”

Maybe Jesse leaving would allow Genji to get over him.

The idea was more off-putting than he expected.

“You can’t stay?”

“Nope.” Jesse sighed; at least he was as torn about it as Genji. “I’m not the type to stay put.”

“Right.”

Jesse opened the door to his apartment, turned the lights on and watched Genji hop on his sofa again as usual. Genji had been spending much more time at Jesse’s place, and even though he made sure to ask if it’s fine every time, it was pretty clear that Genji practically lived there at this point.

The evening went by quick as they both talked about this and that, ate some toast, and joked about showering together.

Around midnight they were both finally tucked in real close to each other on Jesse’s sofa-bed, and the apartment faded into quiet as Jesse’s half asleep chit chatter ended.

Genji felt a sense of relief, as he was finally free from the possibility that Jesse could see what he was about to do.

He very quietly got up from the bed, and snuck to the bathroom a few steps away, the snore from Jesse making it clear that he had succeeded in avoiding waking him up.

He turned the door knob, and stepped inside. With the lights on he could see the clear patch of his less human skin appearing on the back of his hand. He could appear fully human for only so long, and because of that he returned to his normal form of dark blue skin and red markings.

It was a little strange looking at the form in the mirror, as most of the time when he looked into a mirror a human face stared back. He didn’t want to admit it, but the realization had him agreeing with Hanzo just a bit.

Before he could get stuck with thoughts of the argument, he felt a flurry of coughs come back to torment him.

If the noise it made wasn’t enough to have him panicked, the amount of pain he found himself in was. It wasn’t just his throat anymore, but he felt almost as if his insides were all stabbed with each cough. he felt his keens give up under him, and before he knew it he was on the floor, coughing and unable to stop.

He heard Jesse’s voice say his name behind the door, but he couldn’t react to it.

He just had to wait for it to stop, which it did, although only after he had to grab his stomach and hug himself on the floor. He could only imagen how painful it all sounded to Jesse.

“Everything okay?” Jesse asked, clearly expecting a reply now that no coughs were to be heard.

“Yeah-“ Genji felt something drip over his jaw. With a guess of what it could be, he hurried up to look at himself in the bathroom mirror. The markings were the only thing on his face with red anymore, and it shook him to his core.

“Do you need anythin’?” Jesse asked, his voice just oozing with concern.

Genji grabbed paper and opened his mouth again, it seemed that most of the blood had already escaped. There was a little on him and the floor, but all in all it didn’t seem to be that much in total. Well- It’s not like Genji was an expert in how much blood can leave the body for it to be dangerous, but it was definitely less than when he ended a target. Which is at least a little reassuring?

“I’m fine.” Genji stated, a little late but it’d have Jesse a bit calmer hopefully. His voice had the pain he was feeling pretty clearly affecting it, but he hoped it could be passed as him just having a throat ache.

“Are you sure?” It was clear Jesse wanted somekind of answers.

“Yeah- I just- A coughing fit, it hurts but is ultimately harmless, and all that.”

“Well I’ll be out here if you need me.”

“Okay.” Genji said, trying to sound thankful through the pain. He’d just have to clean up the blood. His clothing and face was easy for now, as he wasn’t going to waltz into Jesse’s vision in this form anyways. The carpet was what he was worried about.

It was still wet, so if he got most of it off to some wet paper or something then the rest would probably dry to brown rather quickly, which should be enough for it to stop looking suspicious for now.

With that done the only issue was him having to be in human form for a bit longer, but his pyjamas had big pockets, he could hide the main suspicion maker in there long enough- probably.

With an inhale and exhale he watched himself shift to a face he was more familiar with, and left the bathroom.

Jesse looked at him right away, with an expression of concern.

“Sorry about that.”

“No need to apologise.” Jesse assured, and pointed at a glass of water. “Got that for you, if you feel a need.”

“Thanks.” Genji picked it in his hand, making sure keep the other in his pocket. “Can you close the lights?”

Jesse did as asked, and they both proceeded to lay back down. Once Jesse was asleep again, Genji escaped the bed once again. Making sure to leave the apartment through the wall this time, if he was going to be coughing up blood now, he wasn’t going to risk being around Jesse.

He’d return in the morning. Hopefully with another hour of no coughs, and before Jesse wakes up.

Guess he could always claim to have fallen asleep in the bathroom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like calling this chapter: "What happens when you finally get to the good stuff."  
> The chapter was way more easy to write, and I hope it appeared in a positive way with the quality!
> 
> Also please tell me if I got Hanzo even close, he's a bit of a stranger for me, and so a difficult fellow to write.  
> But as always, every comment is appreciated and I hope you enjoyed reading the chapter!


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